A State of Contradiction: Sudan’s Unity Goes South

South Sudan’s secession was either an unavoidable outcome of a post-colonial betrayal of political promises or a surprising result of muddled and contradictory developments during which, at crucial points, dynamics nonetheless aligned. It was, this chapter argues, because of these contradictions that South Sudan came into being: from its colonial past through a series of rebellions with competing ambitions, via the contradictory 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement (that supported both Sudan’s unity and southern autonomy), to the internationally-supported independence referendum. Lack of clarity about whether or not the leaders of South Sudan pursued secession ultimately made its achievement possible. The most tragic contradiction is that in the process of creating South Sudan, its leaders replicated the political marginalization from which their country had sought to escape

Antimalarial agents from medicinal plant and fungal sources

Malaria is the fourth major parasitic infectious disease for humans, causing severe symptoms and life-threatening complications, which, if untreated within 24–48 h may evolve in the fatality. In the past five decades, major initiatives in the treatment and prevention of this devastating disease have been implemented in endemic areas, leading to significant progress and declining trends. The majority of the reports presented here are focused on the activity of the extracts and fractions of plant or fungal origin: this approach has its rationale in the observation that crude materials are often more active than isolated compounds, due to the manifestation of beneficial synergistic and additional effects and/or pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic interactions. Consideration has been given to the antiplasmodial activities in relation to the different herbal part and nature of extracting solvents and to safety studies; whenever available, phytochemical fingerprint has been reported, disclosing a variety of unique molecular scaffolds with a potential as new pharmacophores. Despite the general lack of mechanistic information for the curative effects of the reported plants and fungi, these studies may undoubtedly pave the way to a new generation of antimalarial agents